On 13 February 2026, the moors of Yorkshire will rise again in Emerald Fennell's new film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Emily Brontë’s only novel, published in 1847 under the pen name Ellis Bell, has endured for nearly two centuries. Its stormy landscapes and even stormier passions still resonate with readers and viewers alike.

Brontë’s life was as stark and atmospheric as her writing. Born on 30 July 1818 in Thornton, Yorkshire, she was the fifth of six children, though only four survived to adulthood. The death of her mother when she was three left Emily and her siblings in the care of their stern yet supportive aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. A childhood marked by fragility and loss echoed into Emily's imagination and literary creations.

The Brontë children grew up educated, even the daughters. But this education came at a cost. Despite their father's support for a comprehensive education, Patrick Brontë was cold and emotionally distant, prone to violent moods. Emily, along with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, endured privation and illness at the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge. The girls faced poor and insufficient food, harsh discipline, unsanitary conditions, and frequent disease outbreaks. These early hardships, coupled with the harsh Yorkshire environment, shaped Emily's sensibilities. Her world was fragile, harsh, and unforgiving, full of loss and mortality. Yet within this constrained life, she and her sisters found solace in each other, inventing the imaginary worlds of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal — lands of adventure, heroism, and forbidden passions. In their literary imaginations, the sisters rose above the shadow of disease, poverty, and grief. Charlotte Brontë would later become known for Jane Eyre, Anne Brontë for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Emily for Wuthering Heights.